Large offshore drilling platforms have been used in deep waters for considerable time. Such drilling platforms are used to find and produce hydrocarbons from below the sea floor. The platforms are manned by up to 200 people and living quarters for the crew are generally provided on separate levels of the platform. All of the operational and living quarters are confined to a relatively small area. In case of a fire or other emergency, the crew must be evacuated by boat or by otherwise abandoning the platform. In inclement conditions as are present in the North Sea, such evacuations may be as hazardous as the emergency giving rise to such evacuation. In some cases, the emergency may be caused by the capsizing of the drilling platform itself.
At least one reference has been made to providing remote living quarters for the crew on such a drilling platform. U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,830 issued to Tuson discloses remote living quarters and a connecting bridge. Tuson discloses a complete separate column and platform for all of the living quarters for crew on a drilling platform. As many such drilling or production platforms already provide for living quarters, such a column would be duplicative and expensive. Further, the bridges disclosed by Tuson appear to be complicated and expensive since the safety requires a remoteness of approximately one hundred yards. Further, Tuson discloses no method for remotely and quickly detaching the bridge connecting the two platforms as might be required in case of the drilling platform capsizing.